To ASA, When will the manuals for Autoslew etc be updated?

[w0mbat]

Dear ASA,

As someone who is completely new to modern sophisticated equipment such as my DDM60Pro, I am finding that most of my frustrations and difficulties come from the out of date and incomplete manuals for the hardware and associated software. Fortunately I have a lot of experience with complex technology and software in fields other than astronomy and I generally am able to blunder through in the end. Were this not the case I would be completely lost.

This leads me to ask when the manuals will be brought up to date and cover every aspect of the equipment and software? I believe that the wonderful products made by ASA are being let down by inadequate and out of date documentation. This is not good for the reputation of ASA.

I would respectfully like to make some suggestions for these updates.

1. The manuals should not assume any prior knowledge. When technical jargon is used it must be explained at least on the first use or in a glossary.

2. Important procedures should be set out in a simple step by step way.

3. When there are exceptions to a procedure they should be put in a separate section, not mixed in with the normal procedure.

4. The manuals must cover every aspect of the software or equipment. There is a significant number of functions or parts of Autoslew, for example, that are simply not mentioned in the manuals.

5. When a manual is translated into another language, the manual should be proof read by a native speaker of that language. There are examples in the documentation of inappropriate use of words that do not make sense to a native speaker. For instance, in the Autoslew manual the word "overseen" is used when the writer clearly means "overlooked". To a native English speaker these two words have very different meanings. I am sure there are forum users, including myself, who would be willing to do this proof reading.

 

I am developing enormous respect for the ASA products I own. Unfortunately that respect does not extend to the documentation.

Kindest regards,

Ian Delaney

 

[nakbrooks]

I have to agree very strongly with those views. As a new, and relatively inexperienced, user of ASA equipment I am very impressed by the quality and capabilities of the hardware and software but very frustrated by the inadequate documentation.

 

I realise that it must be very difficult for ASA to keep multilingual documentation fully up to date when the hardware and software are evolving. However if ASA wants to grow its user base beyond the professional and highly experienced amateur market something does need to be done. Otherwise there is a danger that frustrated users will blame the equipment, which will harm ASA's reputation.

 

I have nothing but praise for ASA support. They have been very responsive to all my (sometimes naive) questions; they have done remote sessions with me; and they have even offered to fly a team out to help with commissioning. However better documentation will enable users to help themselves, reducing the burden on ASA support.

 

I have a suggestion.

 

Could ASA create a Wiki, seeded with the current documentation, where experienced users could add their own information - enabling the Wiki over time to become a definitive detailed set of guidance. Some moderation would be required, but this should be much less effort for ASA than creating new multilingual documentation from scratch.

 

Like the original poster, I may not yet have the experience to contribute technical detail, but I do have a background in technology and user communication and can certainly contribute to making material more comprehensible to new users.

 

Just a thought - and intended to be a positive suggestion. I would hate world-class products to be usable only by the elite who understand them without instruction.

 

Nigel

[gmalits]

Hello together,

 

I agree to Nigel an Ian,

 

and, a wiki is a powerful and, for ASA, cheap way, to hold information actual...

Edited December 8, 2013 by gmalits

[Wojtek Gdańsk]

Welcome. I also write this as my predecessors. I would add only that it would be handy manual DDM enriched with instructional videos You-Tube, as is already done by some companies engaged in the production of equipment astro.

[RamaSpaceShip]

Hi all,

 

I fully agree with the idea of a wiki. I already proposed it at the very beginning of the ASA forum, without success unfortunately.

 

I find the ASA manual very confusing, and not up to date at all.

 

The idea of having a wiki with step by step procedures, with links to special issues, would be a real improvement and a very great help to every user of ASA mounts;

It would also allow users to contribute with their own issues and tricks.

 

Dear ASA team, please make this request a reality.

 

Dear forum user, please give your own opinion, so that the ASA team can really measure how this request is important to their customers.

 

 

Regards.

 

Bernard

[admin]

Hello,

 

I think we can discuss about making a Wiki, but in this case, I will need your help. I have not that much experineces with Wikies and it will take a lot of time to find one which will work very well and fit the needs we have.

 

So if you know a Wiki software that is good in your opinion, please let me know which one it is and a link where I can find some information about.

 

I will open a Thread about this topic in the Small Talk Board.

 

Best reagrds,

Michael

[admin]

here is the link to the Wiki Thread.

 

http://forum.astrosysteme.com/index.php?/topic/200-discussion-about-a-wiki-for-asa/

 

Best regards,

Michael

[w0mbat]

I do support the idea of a Wiki. However, from past experience with other unrelated software, I do not believe that a Wiki is in any way a sufficient replacement for well written fully comprehensive manuals. The provision of good manuals is the natural responsibility of any company that sells complex expensive high performance equipment. Unfortunately the ASA representative has not addressed the basic issues in my original post.

Ian

[nakbrooks]

I agree with Ian, although I think the two are complementary.

 

The problem I guess for ASA is that the hardware and software is very complex while the user base is comparatively small. Producing very detailed documentation in at least 2 languages and keeping it up to date is therefore relatively expensive.

 

What we need is clear documentation of all the features in printed/PDF form but supplemented by how-to and troubleshooting guides that can be authored by the wider user community. A Wiki is a better format for these latter cause it is structured but easy to edit and a variable degree of editorial control can be implemented as appropriate.

[MarkS]

I strongly agree with Ian on this. The wiki may well serve as a valuable complement to up-to-date comprehensive manuals, but in no way can replace them.

 

The production of a new set of manuals is a major undertaking, made more difficult by the rapid rate of development, particularly the software.

 

Is it feasible for the Autoslew and Sequence manuals to be overseen and edited by ASA, rather than writing them completely?

 

Some of the beta testers must be pretty familiar by now with the software, and perhaps could contribute to sections of the manuals defined by ASA, and then edited by ASA . This could spread the task, and improve the ability to keep the manuals current.

 

Related to this is the language issue. For example, some of the English in the current manuals is a little confusing. Surely this  is something that some of our users could assist with.

 

It is obviously essential that ASA retains absolute control of the output, but there is likely to be a number of us users who have the technical and writing abilities to contribute.

 

The ASA products themselves are incomparable, so I do not make these comments as criticisms, but rather to explore practical options for keeping the manuals current in a fast developing technology in which all users have a strong investment and interest.

 

Mark

[admin]

Hello,

 

it was not my intention to ignore the main questions. First of all, a Wiki will never replace a manual. To keep a manual up to date takes a lot of time and in our case we prefer to have a working stable version of our programms than an daily updated manual. I will forward your request for an updated manual to ASA.

 

Michael

[w0mbat]

Thanks Michael. I am sure many other users will appreciate this as well.

Regards

Ian